Is DOJ Investigating the Forged Documents Trump Used in His Coup Attempt?

Last week, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel referred to federal prosecutors a criminal investigation into who was behind a Dec. 14, 2020, certificate falsely attesting that Donald Trump won Michigan’s electoral votes. Shortly before the Dec. 14 announcements, lawyer John Eastman entered the Trump postelection world and reportedly became Trump’s “legal quarterback.” Eastman wrote two memos laying out electoral count scenarios for Jan. 6; Republican Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger said the first “outlines a coup.” Both memos’ recipe for keeping Trump in power turned on there being two sets of slates in those seven states. That decision left the violent Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol as the last option for interrupting the transfer of power, with the mob screaming “Hang Mike Pence.” If these fake certificates were submitted with an intent to help steal the election, those responsible may have violated laws prohibiting the falsification of voting documents or other government documents, mail fraud, or conspiring to defraud the United States, which the Supreme Court has found includes “any conspiracy for the purpose of impairing, obstructing or defeating the lawful function of any department of Government.” The Department of Justice should take up the referrals of the state attorneys general posthaste. Pence added words stating that he could, per the parliamentarian, only count a slate whose documentation included “a certificate from an authority of that state purporting to appoint or ascertain electors.” Those words almost certainly reflected his awareness of the fake electoral count certificates that lacked authentication from state officials.